Thriving in The Dark [(TDM) ENG]

IX

I opened my eyes and immediately felt the strong smell of lemon and hand sanitizer, which was enough to bring back unwanted memories. No, no, no. I desperately looked around to reassure myself that it wasn't Thurmond's infirmary. I looked down to my hands and they weren't cuffed to the bed; then I looked up and saw no cameras recording me. There also weren't any Psi classification posters on the walls. 

I let out a huge sigh of relief. Wherever I was, at least it wasn't Thurmond. I tried to remember what had happened before, but my memories weren't so clear. I was sure I had been sick and almost died, but that lady... who was she? And why wasn't I sick anymore? I was able to move and breathe quite well. I noticed I was attached to some kind of machine that I had only ever seen in movies. I think it was the kind that measured your heartbeat. I also had an IV attached to my right arm. 

I definitely was in a hospital. Or in an infirmary, at least. Was I alone? I hadn't seen anybody since I had woken up from my... sleep? I wasn't sure if I had been sleeping and for how long, but my number one priority was to find out where exactly I was.

I looked around one last time to be sure that there really weren't any cameras in the room. Then I took out the IV and disconnected the heartbeat machine from my finger. The screen showed a straight line and the beeping turned into a continuous and very loud noise, like an alarm. Fuck!, I thought. 

I knew nothing about the people who had taken me, so I couldn't risk being caught. They could have been tracers, PSFs or human traffickers. Either way, they had surely taken me to that place to hurt me in some way, so I had to be out of there really fast, before they could hear the noise.

There was a door on my left, the only entrance to the room except for the window on my right. Whoever was after me would have come in through the door, so of course, I chose the window. But even before I could get outside, the door was opened and three people rushed in.

"Jesus Christ, Lillian!" I turned around and immediately recognized the woman who had found me in the street. Fair skin, blonde hair, soft voice. I hadn't seen the details of her face that night, but I was sure it was her. "We thought your heart stopped beating!"

The woman walked closer to me, but I stayed still by the window. "Don't touch me! I'm a Yellow." I warned her. She raised her hands and smiled.

"I know, but I'm not afraid of you, and nor should you be of me." she stretched out her hand to grab mine, but I tugged it away. "Please, Lillian, don't be scared. I'm not like the rest of them."

"The rest of who?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The people who want to hurt you. PSFs, skip tracers, and stupid people. We're nothing like them. Actually, we're here to help you all." Said the woman, with that stupid look on her face. 

"I'm not buying your bullshit. You're wrong if you think I'll ever trust you." I said, irritated.

She let out a little laugh and said: "And yet you're still here. The window isn't locked, so why did you stop to listen to me? Why didn't you run?". I hated that smirk. Who does this woman think she is? I thought. I tried to argue, but nothing came out of my mouth. Maybe she was right, maybe there really was something that made me trust her. 

"Have you ever heard of the Children's League?" she asked, showing me the badge on her shirt. Apparently, 'Catherine Connor' was her name.

I thought for a second and nodded. They had shown us the News a couple of times on the projector in the Mess Hall, and they were always about the Children's League.

She smiled "We don't have a great reputation in Thurmond, do we?"

And for the first time in a very long time, I laughed. "No, the hell you don't. But I always thought you were cool. Like, destroying the government and stuff."

"Right," she cackled "We 'destroy the government', but our main role is to protect children and fight to create a normal future for them. I bet they didn't tell you that in the camps."

"Oh." I said "No, they never did." That was a pretty rough reality check. Despite all the PSFs did to demonstrate their untrustworthiness to us, I still believed what they told us about the League.  That's what they wanted: they made us physically weak and manipulated our susceptible minds into thinking that there really was no one out there to support us. No kids would try to escape if they believed nobody would be there for them on the outside. And still, there I was.

"Right," she smiled and stretched out a hand "then I might as well show you around. Would you mind?"

I stepped back and glared at the two men standing by the door. They had been silent the whole time. Then I took a deep breath and grabbed her hand, warm and soft just like my mother's used to be.

We walked out of the room and I found myself in what looked like a huge basement. There were large cracks on the walls and pieces of plaster on the floor. But apart from that, it all looked alive. There were a bunch of people walking around or sitting by the tables of what seemed to be the canteen. It was nothing like Thurmond. The room was filled with noises of chatting and laughing and it honestly warmed my heart. It was everything I missed from my previous life, back when being a kid was still allowed.